I thought
this might be a worthwhile topic for a TGIF post. As an online community, we are the ones who benefit most
from free and open access to the World Wide Web; yet this topic has received
scant attention on our discussion boards.
Briefly, here are the issues that will impact our future:
High speed
Internet access is provided by only a handful of service providers - Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner, and Cox, as
examples - which transfer our data from one end of the network to another. We expect full transparency, meaning we
do not want these firms to analyze, manipulate, package, or prejudice our
communications in any way.
Earlier
this month, however, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned two rules on a
technicality: One that barred
broadband providers from charging extra for data access, and one that prevented
them from blocking access to lawful content.
The
implications of this decision are troublesome. Without these rules, Internet providers may screen
everything we send across Cyberspace – our web log posts and comments, our emails,
videos, broadband telephone calls, and social media conversations. An unregulated Internet means any
provider may censor our content, or prejudice delivery of our content by
speeding up or slowing down transmission, or charge extra.
These are by no means straw man concerns. In the past, there have been several abuses
by Internet providers that have censored content for self-serving purposes,
most noteworthy:
AT&T – Jammed censored a performance of the rock group
Pearl Jam in 2007 because the company disapproved of the group’s anti-Iraq War
message;
Comcast – Blocked video-trading applications ostensibly for
the purpose of easing Internet traffic – except for the fact that Comcast
discriminated against an entire class of users during non-peak hours – because
Comcast is in the business of selling online video;
Verizon – Cut off the text-messaging system of NARAL
Pro-Choice America, stating that Verizon would not service any group “"that seeks to promote an agenda or distribute
content that, in its discretion, may be seen as controversial or unsavory to
any of our users;"
Telus – Blocked Internet subscribers from
accessing a website run by a union that was on strike against Telus.
These abuses can happen to you. If you care about this issue, here is what you can do: Petition the FCC here.
Update: How you will pay for Internet services once net neutrality is gone:
